Passed my TICO exam this morning with an 84% score and wanted to write up what helped since there's not much useful prep content online. I'm a travel agent with about 18 months of experience, this was my first attempt, and I studied for 5 weeks averaging 40 minutes a day.
The sections that tripped me up most during practice were the TICO Act provisions themselves — specifically registration requirements and consumer protection obligations around travel contracts. The Ontario Consumer Protection Act content also showed up more than I expected. I spent the last two weeks almost exclusively on those two areas after my practice scores stalled around 71%.
What helped most was switching to timed practice sets at week 3. Thirty-question timed sets forced me to internalize the rules rather than look them up, and my score jumped from 71% to 82% in practice over about 10 days. The time pressure made a real difference.
The actual exam felt straightforward compared to the harder practice sets. Most questions tested whether you knew the rule, not whether you could parse trick language. I finished in about 45 minutes with 25 minutes left to review.
Congrats. The TICO Act provisions on trust account requirements are something a lot of people underestimate — they're heavily tested. I spent about 8 hours just on that topic and it probably saved me 5–6 questions on the real exam.
For anyone preparing — the distinction between travel retailer and travel wholesaler under the OTA/TICO registration rules is tested almost every exam. Don't skip it thinking it's obvious, because the exam questions make it subtle.
84% is a strong score. I passed at 77% last spring after two attempts — the first time I failed by 2 questions because I hadn't studied cancellation policy obligations carefully enough. Small detail but it came up 4 times on my exam.
The timed practice tip is real. I studied 3 weeks open-book style and felt prepared, then realized during the actual exam I was spending 3–4 minutes per question. Timed sets from the start would have built the right habits.